单选题 {{I}} Questions 17--20 are based on the following passage. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17--20.{{/I}}

单选题The passage was most likely published in a

单选题WhichofthefollowingisCORRECTabouttheaccident?A.Theyoungladywasthrownthroughthewindscreen.B.Theyoungladydidn'twearaseatbeltdespiteSimpson'sadvice.C.ThetwopassengersweredriventohospitalbyMr.Simpson.D.Simpson'swifegotmoreseriousinjuriesthantheyounglady.

单选题Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain, with a US review finding music training can lead to improved speech and foreign language skills. Although it has been suggested in the past that listening to Mozart or other classical music could make you smarter, there has been little evidence to show that music boosts brain power. But a data-driven review by Northwestern University has pulled together research that links musical training to learning that spills over into skills including language, speech, memory, attention and even vocal emotion. Researcher Nina Kraus said the data strongly suggested that the neural (神经的) connections made during musical training also primed (使做好准备) the brain for other aspects of human communication. "The effect of music training suggests that, similar in nature to physical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones (增强；提高) the brain for auditory fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in shaping individual development," the researchers said in their study. Kraus said learning musical sounds could enhance the brain"s ability to adapt and change and also enable the nervous system to provide patterns that are important to learning. The study, published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, looked at the explosion of research in recent years focused on the effects of music training on the nervous system which could have strong implications for education. The study found that playing an instrument primes the brain to choose what is relevant in a complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score, timing issues and coordination with other musicians. "A musician"s brain selectively enhances information-bearing elements in sound," Kraus said in a statement. "In a beautiful interrelationship between sensory and cognitive processes, the nervous system makes associations between complex sounds and what they mean." The study reviewed literature showing, for example, that musicians are more successful than non-musicians in learning to incorporate sound patterns for a new language into words.

单选题Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform .to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), George Bush's education law, which was passed in 2002 Up to ten states, she said, would be allowed to target their resources at the most severely struggling schools, rather than at the vast number needing improvement. The change drew a predictable mix of praise and censure. Above all, though, it was a reminder of utter inaction elsewhere, Congress, which was supposed to re-authorize the law last year, has made little progress. On the campaign trail, concerns over Iraq and the economy have made education a minor issue. Contrary to appearances, the law's main tenets are unlikely to be abandoned completely. But for the Democratic candidates in particular, a proper debate on NCLB is to be avoided like political quicksand. Most politicians agree that the law has the right goals-to raise educational standards and hold schools accountable for meeting them. NCLB requires states to test pupils on math and reading from third to eighth grade (that is, from the ages of eight to 13), and once in high school. Some science testing is being added. Schools that do not make "adequate yearly progress" towards meeting state standards face sanctions. Pupils in failing schools can supposedly transfer to a better one or get tutoring. Most also agree that NCLB has big flaws that must be fixed. Few pupils in bad schools actually transfer-less than 1% of those eligible did so in the 2003-04 school year. Teachers' unions say the tests are focused too narrowly on math and reading, fail to measure progress over time and encourage "teaching to the test". They also complain that the law lacks proper funding. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative policy group, has exposed wide gaps in state standards. Test-data reflect this. In Mississippi 90% of fourth-graders were labeled "proficient" or better in the state reading test in 2006-07. Only 19% reached that level in a national test. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, offers NCLB tepid support but fails to elaborate. At Democratic rallies, NCLB is little more than a whipping-boy. Hillary Clinton proclaims that she will "end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind". But though she and Barack Obama deride NCLB publicly, each endorses the idea of accountability. They favor using more sophisticated "assessments" in place of tests, want to value a broader range of skills, punish schools less and support them more. How these ideas would be implemented remains unclear. Not surprisingly, more controversial proposals can be found among those not running for president. Chester Finn of Fordham thinks the federal government needs greater power to set standards, while states should have more leeway in meeting them. A bipartisan commission on NCLB has issued a slew of proposals. Particularly contentious is a plan to use pupils' test scores to help identify ineffective teachers as in need of retraining. Of course, standards alone do not improve education. Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama propose a host of new programs for schools, described on their websites if rarely on campaign. But accountability is likely to remain a big part of school reform. Last April a group of philanthropists announced a $60m effort to make education the top domestic issue of 2008. So far, it looks like money ill spent.

单选题Traveling can be fun and easy. A vacation trip to another country is especially (21) when the traveling conditions are good. Good traveling conditions (22) a comfortable mode of transportation, knowledge of the (23) language, familiarity (24) the custom and habits of the people in the country, and pleasant traveling (25) . All of us have had nice trips (26) this. Most of us have also had trips that we would (27) to forget. Many conditions can produce a bad (28) experience. For example, if the four conditions (29) above do not exist, we will probably have a bad experience, (30) at best difficult (31) . Students who travel to a (32) country to study often have a difficult trip. They usually travel (33) . They don't know the language of the new country (34) . They often arrive in the new country (35) a judge international airport. From the airport, they need to (36) their way to their school. Maybe they need to (37) airplanes, to take a bus, a train, or a taxi. They need to do ail this in a country (38) everything is unfamiliar. Later, after the experience is (39) , they can laugh. But at the (40) , they feel terrible.

单选题You will hear three dialogues or monologues. Before listening to each one, read the questions related to it. While listening, answer each question by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear each piece ONLY ONCE.

单选题In discussing the resources of the sea, the author has hinted that ______.

单选题When you ______, you will certainly choose the Excite Inbox.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} The American educational system is based on the idea that as many people as possible should have access to as much education as possible. This fact alone distinguishes the U.S. system from most others, since in most others the objective is as much to screen people out as it is to keep them in. The U.S. system has no standardized examinations whose results systematically prevent students from going on to higher levels of study, as the British and many other systems do. Through secondary school and sometimes in post-secondary institutions as well, the American system tries to accommodate students even if their academic aspirations and aptitudes are not high, even if they are physically (and in some cases mentally) handicapped, and even if their native language is not English. The idea that as many people as possible should have as much eductaion as possible is, of course, an outcome of the Americans' assumptions about equality among people. These assumptions do not mean that everyone has an equal opportunity to enter Harvard, Stanford, or other highly competitive post-secondary institutions. Admission to such institutions is generally restricted to the most academically able. The less able can usaully matriculate in a post-secondary institution, as the Malaysians observed, but one of lower quality. As of March 1982, only 3 percent of all Americans aged 25 or more had completed less than five years of elementary school. Seventy-one percent of those 25 or more had completed four years of high school or gone beyond that, and 17.7 percent had completed four or more year of post-secondary education. The median number of school years completed was 12.6. The number of tertiary (that is, post-secondary) students per 100,000 inhabitants was 5,355. Some contrasts: the number of tertiary students per 100,000 in the population was 4,006 in Canada, in no other country, according to UNESCO data, was the number of post-secondary students above 2,700 per 100,000. Korea had 2,696 tertiary students per 100,000 inhabitants; Japan, 2,030; the USSR, 1,970; Argentina, 1,890; HongKong, 1,353; Malaysia, 472; and Ethiopia, 48. Naturally, an educational system that retains as many people as the American system does is likely to enroll a broader range of students than a system that seeks to educate only the few who seem especially suited for academic work. In the American system, academic rigor tends to come later than it does in most other systems. In many instances, American students do not face truly demanding educational requirements until they seek a graduate (that is, post-baccalaureate) degree. Many other systems place heavy demands on students as early as their primary years - though college may be far less demanding, as is the case in Japan.

单选题Parents can easily come down with an acute case of schizophrenia from reading the contradictory reports about the state of the public schools. One set of experts asserts that the schools are better than they have been for years. Others say that the schools are in terrible shape and are responsible for every national problem from urban poverty to the trade deficit. One group of experts looks primarily at such indicators as test scores, and they cheer what they see: all the indicators — reading scores, minimum competency test results, the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores — are up, some by substantial margins. Students are required to take more academic courses — more mathematics and science, along with greater stress on basic skills, including knowledge of computers. More than 40 state legislatures have mandated such changes. But in the eyes of another set of school reformers such changes are at best superficial and at worst counterproductive. These experts say that merely toughening requirements, without either improving the quality of instruction or, even more important, changing the way schools are organized and children are taught makes the schools worse rather than better. They challenge the nature of the tests, mostly multiple choice or true or false, by which children's progress is measured; they charge that raising the test scores by drilling pupils to come up with the right answers does not improve knowledge, understanding and the capacity to think logically and independently. In addition, these critics fear that the get-tough approach to school reform will cause more of the youngsters at the bottom to give up and drop out. This, they say, may improve national scores but drain even further the nation's pool of educated people. The way to cut through the confusion is to understand the different yardsticks used by different observers. Compared with what schools used to be like "in the good old days", with lots of drill and uniform requirements and the expectation that many youngsters who could not make it would drop out and find their way into unskilled jobs by those yardsticks the schools have measurably improved in recent years. But by the yardsticks of those experts who believe that the old schools was deficient in teaching the skills needed in the modern world, today's schools have not become better. These educators believe that rigid new mandates may actually have made the schools worse.

单选题Under the deal agreed with the European parliament, bonuses bankers may get as low as [A] 20 percent of bonus in cash immediately. [B] 30 percent of bonus in shares immediately. [C] 30 percent of bonus in hedge fund immediately. [D] 50 percent of bonus in hedge fund immediately.

单选题Questions 17-20 are based on the following discussion about a survey result.

单选题{{B}}Passage 1{{/B}} I'd like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes every evening right after the early evening news, all television broadcasting in America be prohibited by law. Let us take a serious, reasonable look at what the results might be if such a proposal were accepted. Families might use the time for a real family hour. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually communicate with one another. It is well known that many of our problems -- everything, in fact, from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness -- are caused at least in part by failure to communicate. We do not tell each other what makes us feel disturbed. The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another. By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems, we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better. On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes. Freed from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset, or they might take a walk together (remember feet?) and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes. With free time and no TV, children and adults might rediscover reading. There is more entertainment in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming. Educators report that the generation growing up with television can barely write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a product of the quiet hour. A different form of reading might also be done, as it was in the past: reading aloud. Few hobbies bring a family closer together than gathering around and listening to mother or father read a good story. The quiet hour could become the story hour. When the quiet hour ends, the TV networks form our newly discovered activities. At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the electronic baby-sitter? How will we spend the time? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. The people who are thirty-five and older can remember childhood without television, spent partly with radio -- which at least involved the listener's imagination -- but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn't that difficult. Honest. The truth is that we had a ball.

单选题If ambition is to be well regarded， the rewards of ambition — wealth, distinction, control over one"s destiny — must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition"s behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition — if not always their own then that of their parents and grandparents. There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped — with the educated themselves riding on them. Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs now than formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs — the locations, place names and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar. Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is, "Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious." The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles; its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly professed. Consequences follow from this, of course, some of which are that ambition is driven underground, or made sly. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.

单选题It can be concluded from the passage that the writer ______.

单选题 How efficient is our system of criminal trial? Does it really do the basic job we ask of it — convicting the guilty and acquitting the innocent? It is often said that {{U}}the British trial system is more like a game than a serious attempt to do justice{{/U}}. The lawyers on each side are so engrossed in playing bard to win, Challenging each other and the judge on technical points, that the object of finding out the truth is almost forgotten. All the effort is concentrated on the big day, on the dramatic cross examination of the key Witnesses in front of the jury. Critics like to compare our "adversarial" system (resembling two adversaries engaged in a contest) with the continental "inquisitorial" system, under which the judge play a more important inquiring role. In early times, in the Middle Ages, the systems of trial across Europe were similar. At that time trial by "ordeal" — especially a religious event — was the main way of testing guilt or innocence. When this way eventually abandoned the two systems parted company. On the continent church-trained legal officials took over the function of both prosecuting and judging, while in England these were largely left to lay people, the Justice of the Peace and the jurymen who were illiterate and this meant that all the evidence had to be put to them orally. This historical accident dominates procedure even today, with all evidence being given in open court by word of mouth on the crucial day. On the other hand, in France for instance, all the evidence is written before the trial under supervision by an investigating judge. This exhaustive pretrial looks very undramatic; much of its is just a public checking of the written records already gathered. The Americans adopted the British system lock, stock and barrel and enshrined it in their constitution. But, while the basic features of our systems are common, there are now significant differences in the way serious cases are handled. First, because the USA has virtually no contempt of court laws to prevent pretrial publicity in the newspaper and on television, Americans lawyers are allowed to question jurors about knowledge and beliefs. In Britain this is virtually never allowed, and a random selection of jurors who are presumed not to be prejudiced are empanelled. Secondly, there is no separate profession of barrister in the United States, and both prosecution and defense lawyers who are to present cases in court prepare themselves. They go out and visit the scene, track down and interview witnesses, and familiarize themselves personally with the background. In Britain it is the solicitor who prepares the case, and the barrister who appears in court is not even allowed to meet witnesses beforehand. British barristers also alternate doing both prosecution and defense work. Being kept distant from the preparation and regularly appearing for both sides, barristers are said to avoid becoming too personally involved, and can approach cases more dispassionately. American lawyers, however, often know their cases better. Reformers rightly want to learn from other countries' mistakes and successes. But what is clear is that justice systems, largely because they are the result of long historical growth, are peculiarly difficult to adapt piecemeal.